Opinion
Column

The pointless deaths of so many innocent workers at the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria are tragic. The possible Canadian connection to the carnage is equally troubling, as it tarnishes our peaceful image in the world. Canada has yet to confirm the connection, but if it proves to be true, it should surprise few Canadians.

Canada has unfortunately become home to terrorist sympathizers, radical ideologies, terror cells and all kinds of extremist agendas.

Militants have used Canada to launch terror attacks abroad. Two examples are Omar Khadr, who killed an American soldier in Afghanistan, and Ahmed Rassam, who transported explosives from Canada to the U.S. in 1999. Rassam, who was convicted of planning to bomb the Los Angeles Airport, belonged to an Algerian terrorist group called the Armed Islamic Group.

These were terror operatives connected to established international terrorist organizations, but the nature of the threat may have shifted from representatives of “brands” like al-Qaida to more independent cells with specific agendas, either domestic or foreign.

In 2010, Project Samosa uncovered a plot to detonate IEDs at strategic targets in Canada. Investigators found large numbers of circuit boards designed to trigger devices remotely, and the group had enough international connections to threaten Canadian soldiers abroad.

Although young Canadian Muslims continue to be influenced by radical ideologies, they need not be exposed to such ideologies to turn militant. Jihad is an article of faith. Belief in jihad has become a mainstream view. No distinction can therefore be made between conventional and extremist views on jihad. For the young Muslims exposed to all the mendacious anti-Western rhetoric and all the delights of the afterlife, it does not take a great shift to tip over to the dark side.

The threat is therefore always present and Canada’s multiculturalism does not help. Project Samosa shows there are home-grown terror cells that can provide material and strategic support to terrorists abroad. They recruit individuals, oversee their training and help fund terrorists in their murderous plans.

These cells have no need to take their orders from some central authority. The doctrines that motivate them are prevalent in a political narrative that is easily accessible to them through accepted religious discourse.

This discourse conflates jihad and terror. Naturally the true believer would not consider this terror, but rather equal retribution to achieve redress from injustice: we kill you because you are killing us. Extremist theology manufactures this sense of injustice that drives the jihadist zeal.

These terror cells may be bred locally, but their reach can be international, as the Project Samosa suspects have shown. Their operatives can plan attacks from a diverse and connected pool of resources.

Terrorist activity in Mali spread over to Algeria when terrorists attacked the In Amenas plant, taking many foreigners hostage and eventually murdering them. Whether or not reports of a Canadian connection are accurate remains to be seen. However, it is telling that a Canadian connection has even been alleged.

In this disturbing new world of global jihad, Canada must do more to monitor the activities of potential terrorist cells, and keep close tabs on suspected militants.

Last year the Department of Public Safety changed existing laws by outlawing incitement to violence. These changes also included a prohibition on disseminating jihadist agendas. Now all agencies must enforce laws that can avert terrorist activity, whether it is aimed at Canada or planned by jihadist Canadians against targets abroad.

Farzana Hassan is the author of Unveiled: A Canadian Muslim Woman’s Struggle Against Misogyny, Sharia and Jihad.